Friday, August 16, 2013

WOULD THE HAREDI PARTIES SUPPORT CONCESSIONS TO THE PLO?

The diplomatic process between Israel and the Palestinians only restarted in earnest Wednesday night, but a battle has already begun, just in case the talks succeed: A battle for support from the haredim.

The Knesset is divided 61- 59 between parties identified with the Right and Left. But MKs on the Left are convinced that should there be a vote in the current Knesset on evacuating settlements, the haredim will be on their side.

“The haredi parties will be partners in the peace process,” Hatnua MK Amram Mitzna told the haredi radio station Kol Chai this week.

“A majority can be created in the Knesset for evacuating settlements.”

Mitzna said haredi MKs have told him they cannot wait to take revenge against Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett for blocking their parties from entering the coalition. He said he could also see a scenario whereby haredi parties join the current coalition at Bayit Yehudi’s expense when the diplomatic talks with the Palestinians progress.

“The priorities of the haredim have changed,” Mitzna said. “They say they aren’t in anyone’s pocket anymore. They know the Right has always betrayed them.”

How, exactly? They extorted the right, while on the left, they were willing to make socialist concessions if that's what it took to remain in power. Since when did they care what harm would come in the long term from it so long as they could pursue their oh-so precious "peace process"?

Organizations and lobbies on the Left have been pursuing haredi MKs for years. Shas MKs Yitzhak Cohen and Yitzhak Vaknin have been involved in the Geneva Initiative and the Knesset Caucus for Two States. Vaknin will speak at next month’s J Street Conference in Washington.

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post in January, Shas leader Arye Deri said his party’s mentor, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, would back a long-term interim agreement with the Palestinians.

They've supported appeasement before, they'll do it again. Vaknin's associations with J Street spell serious trouble, and suggest he's an agent for bad sources. Shas is much worse than United Torah Judaism, and will probably be the cause of the downfall of Israel.